Plenty Of Kicks

That's how long it took me to realize a boyhood dream -- driving a Corvette across America on Route 66.

And to make the dream even better, it wasn't just any Corvette, but the fastest production model yet -- the 505-horsepower ZO6.

Route 66 -- "Mainstreet USA" -- remains an American legend despite being decommissioned in 1985. Millions of people have traveled the road since it opened in the late 1920s, some fleeing the Dust Bowls of Oklahoma and Arkansas in the '30s, others seeking jobs in the war industries of California in the '40s. After Disneyland opened in 1955, millions of families went to see Mickey and the gang, stopping at the Grand Canyon and any number of Snake City-type sideshows along the way.

I first learned of 66 in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, in which he called it "the mother road." My fantasy of wandering the highway in a Corvette was born in 1960 when the TV show Route 66 debuted on CBS. The innovative show put actors Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and George Maharis as Buz Murdock in a 1960 Corvette and sent them in search of some meaning of life and "a place to put down roots." To me, that beat the heck out of learning algebra.

As for the Z06: Not long ago, I was reading one of the car-buff books that litter my office and came across a driving impression of the new Corvette ZO6. The writer was falling all over himself looking for superlatives to describe "the best Corvette of all time" and "one of the best-performing cars in the world."

I was planning a trip to Chicago and knew that old Route 66 began there. Melodically speaking, "Route 66 in my ZO6" popped into my head, so I started making some phone calls. Chevrolet's public-relations department knew an opportunity when it heard one and located a ZO6 in Chicago for me to drive back home to California. When I saw the "Velocity Yellow" paint, my first thought was it seemed to be glowing and humming like a flying saucer in a sci-fi flick. My second thought was that it would attract every cop within a hundred-mile radius.

The ZO6 is wider than the standard C6 Corvette. The Goodyear F1 supercar extended-mobility run-flat tires are huge: 275/35ZR18 in front and 325/30ZR19's fill out the back. The rear wheels are a full steamroller-sized 2 inches wide.

The ZO6 sports four 3-inch-diameter exhaust pipes pointing out the back, wider front-fender flares, a front spoiler and a lip on the rear-deck lid. There is a "Z/O6 505 horsepower" badge behind each front wheel well arch.

For the $65,800 base price, or $72,395 as tested, the performance is unprecedented. Chevrolet claims a 0-60 mph time of 3.7 seconds, 0-100 mph in 7.8 seconds -- a feat you can accomplish while moving into traffic from an on-ramp. The quarter-mile comes in 11.9 seconds at 122 mph. Top speed: 198 mph. For that, I'd have to take the automaker's word.

Because this car's aluminum chassis is lighter than its C6 sibling, it only comes with a fixed roof made of magnesium alloy in order to retain body rigidity. Too bad. Open-air driving would allow you to savor the exhaust note of the 7.0-liter, 427-cubic-inch engine even more, though the drop in air pressure flowing over the top at 198 mph would likely pull your hair out.

When a sports car can deliver specs such as these, its ride characteristics are usually harsh and nearly unlivable. Not the case with the ZO6. It has no squeaks, rattles or objectionable wind noise. Oh sure, a daily commute over potholed streets wouldn't be pleasant, and the tires can set up a racket on certain road surfaces, especially grooved lanes and rough concrete.

But I did more than 3,000 miles in it with only one real complaint -- the seats. Although electrically adjustable fore and aft and up and down, they lack lumbar support. That mechanism was removed to reduce weight. After the first day, I was hurting and had to slowly roll myself out of the car and stand up in stages. At a truck stop in Springfield, Mo., I found a "trucker's pillow" that supported my lower back and enjoyed the rest of the journey pain-free.

Other things I liked: the solid feel, the sense of control, although the car got a little light on its toes when reaching illegal speeds. The heads-up speedometer/tachometer display looms over the hood so you can check how far into triple digits you are. There are even a couple of track modes that will show you lateral g-forces in corners.

Stuff I didn't like so much: As with other Corvettes, the six-speed manual gearbox will shunt you from first to fourth if you accelerate gently and shift slowly -- a fuel-saving device that can be annoying until you get used to it. There's a push-button instead of a handle to open the doors, but the buttons are deactivated after starting the engine unless you manually push another button to enable them.